Third seed Muguruza joins exodus in Melbourne

Third seed's exit clears path for in-form Azarenka

Garbine Muguruza admitted that she had a "very bad day at the office" after failing to live up to her billing as third seed in a shock Australian Open loss to Barbora Strycova yesterday.

The Spanish star, a Wimbledon finalist last year, became the latest top-10 player to crash out of the season-opening Grand Slam with her error-strewn game exposed 6-3, 6-2 by the Czech veteran, who reached the fourth round for the first time in nine attempts.

It was a remarkable upset by Strycova, 29, who had gone beyond the third round only once in 38 previous Grand Slam appearances - at Wimbledon in 2014, when she made the quarter-finals.

"Clearly not my best, for sure. Today is a very bad day at the office," said 22-year-old Muguruza, the breakout star of 2015 who had high hopes of claiming a first Grand Slam title at Melbourne Park.

"Barbora played good, very good. Also, I didn't play good. I don't know, I just couldn't find the court, my shots. I didn't really find my game."

Muguruza's flop puts her alongside second seed Simona Halep, sixth seed Petra Kvitova and eighth seed Venus Williams as top-10 players who have failed to make the tournament's second week.